Here, pay close attention to the round red handle she turns to initiate launch. This depiction is shown without any special explanation and is just a brief cut in the episode, but… If you look carefully, the handle’s shape appears strangely familiar.

That’s right—it looks just like a Gashapon machine handle. The circular base, horizontal bar, the solid red color scheme, and the ruggedly utilitarian design—all closely resemble it. Even the action of turning the handle overlaps in your memory with “turning a capsule machine.”

Of course, since Sunrise, the studio behind "Zeta Gundam," is also a production studio under the Bandai Group, it wouldn’t be surprising if this handle was indeed designed based on the Gashapon motif.

And above all, the fact that it appears in such an important moment as the "launch" scene makes this little detail all the more charming—even though there’s no special meaning behind it, realizing the reference gives you a small sense of having found a secret.

Gundam and Gashapon. Since both are “hit products” that Bandai proudly boasts, it would be easy to accept if that handle really served a “dual purpose.”

The anime "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" is a robot anime produced by Sunrise that aired from March 1985 to February 1986, and is a sequel set seven years after the One Year War depicted in "Mobile Suit Gundam." It also sparked the “Gunpla” boom. Numerous spin-offs and related works in the Gundam series have been created, and it continues to maintain strong popularity even today.

(C)SOTSU·SUNRISE

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